- 6.
After Carrie’s funeral, Tom disappeared.
Susan was heartbroken and spent her days
crying.
<
I went to the clinic to have an abortion and
then checked myself into a wellness retreat
for a week.
My mom died when I was young. My dad
remarried and had another kid. I haven’t
talked to my dad in ten years. I don’t have any
family in this world.
Otherwise, Tom’s family wouldn’t have been
able to blame me so easily last time.
When I got back from the retreat, the house
was covered in dust. Tom hadn’t been back
either.
I grabbed my clothes and ID, rented an
apartment, and contacted a divorce lawyer.
“Mr. Roberts, I need you to draw up a divorce
<
agreement for me. I want nothing.
I was afraid Tom’s family would blame me for
Carrie’s death to protect Tom.
I had no doubt that they could do that.
Did they really think I was guilty last time?
They were pretending to be stupid.
When I walked into Susan’s house with the
divorce papers, my suspicions were
confirmed.
“Honey, you dare come back here! I talked to
Paulie. He said you told him to push Carrie!
You’re a murderer!”
Tom pointed at me, screaming.
Susan looked at me in disbelief, and Carol
glared at me.
I scoffed, tossing the divorce papers on the
table.
“Tom, everyone here knows how Carrie died.
If you want to blame me, then we can call the
cops. Manipulating a minor to commit a crime
is illegal.”
“Don’t call the cops!” Tom shouted.
I smiled at Susan and Carol. “You know why
he doesn’t want to call the cops? Because
Bethany told Paulie to push Carrie!”
“Shut up, Honey, If you say one more word, I’ll
kill you!” Tom interrupted.
Г
I turned on my phone, playing the recording.
“Bethany, is it true? Did you tell Paulie to
push Carrie?”
“No, I didn’t!”
“Then Paulie is lying? Let’s go talk to him.”
“No, no, no, I’m sorry. Carrie called me a slut,
and Paulie saw it. He’s just a kid. He didn’t
mean to hurt Carrie.”
“Carrie hit you?”
“I didn’t tell you, we had a baby once. Carrie
caused me to miscarry. Paulie saved my life.”
“You’ve been through so much.”
<
“I don’t care as long as I’m with you.”
As the recording played, Tom’s anger turned
to shame. He lunged at me, trying to grab my
phone.
I dodged him and stepped back, ending the
recording.
“Tom, stop lying. Don’t trick yourself.”
I knew how selfish the Chen family was, so I
was prepared.
While I was at the retreat, I had someone
follow Bethany and Tom. I wanted to get
photos of them together to force Tom to
divorce me.
Instead, I got this recording.
